"Ow."
Mai opened her eyes, blinking to adjust to the darkness. She reached her hand out to grasp her alarm clock, but felt only air. She looked around, wondering why she couldn't find it, and then recalled what had happened.
"Naru?" She called, knowing that he should be somewhere near by and hoping he was conscious. "Are you awake?"
"How would you know if I wasn't? I can't respond that I'm not." His reply came from her left. She turned, and made out a shadowy figure. She started to stand, but as soon as she put weight on her right leg, she collapsed. When she touched the thigh, her hand came away sticky with half-dried blood.
Naru strode over. "I stopped the bleeding, but there's nothing to clean the blood off with down here. We seem to have fallen through into the basement- and judging from the crash I heard, we may be here a while. The ceiling fell not long after the floor." He said, leaning over her leg to try to see the cut in the extremely poor light. "It should be about dawn now. Did you hit your head on the way down?"
Mai felt her head, testing for any bumps. "I don't think so… The only thing that hurts is my leg." She shifted positions so she could feel her dress. "I ripped more of the skirt, though… maybe I could tear a strip out to wipe my leg with. As damaged as it is, I don't think anyone will ever notice. It was such a lovely dress…" She sighed, thinking of how much it would cost to own one as lovely. If she went without food for a month, and didn't use any electricity, she might be able to afford one. Barring that, she'd never manage.
Naru hummed in reply, looking around the room. "I think this may be a storage space. That cupboard had old table cloths- they were dusty, or I would've used them on your leg- and I found a few chairs and cushions. No food, but there are a few liters of water, and we can light a fire to boil it. It certainly won't be comfortable, but we can survive down here for at least a few days." He pondered. "I'd say we should expect help within a week. The city is at least 20 kilometers away, and if the earthquake hit there, then that's where relief will go first. They won't have enough people to send any here for at least two days."
Mai considered this. Cushions and table cloths meant bedding, and it was late September, so they wouldn't freeze. The increasingly better light meant that there was a hole above them, so there would be enough air, too. Naru was right about the lack of comfort, but he was also right about everything else. She mentally braced herself for an extended period of contact with Naru.
"What do you propose we do to keep ourselves from going stir-crazy?" She asked, anticipating his response to involve him lecturing her, or quizzing her on school. Instead, he merely shrugged. "The space isn't very large, and there are no books or games here. We'll have to entertain ourselves." Naru replied.
Mai looked at him, surprised by the vague response. She couldn't think of any words to convey this, though, so she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall behind her. Her leg was throbbing- soon it would start to burn as it began to heal, and she wanted something distracting her when that happened. She contemplated doing her budget in her head, but deemed it too boring. Naru was lost in thought, seemingly staring at the wall- the light was still too poor for her to be sure- and he was never very talkative. He was out as a distraction as well, unless she wanted to discuss their shared work.
She placed her palms flat on the ground on either side of her legs and began to stand up, excruciatingly slowly so as to keep her weight off of her leg for as long as possible. She had lost her shoes- the only nice pair she owned, unfortunately- in the fall, so her bare feet had no trouble finding purchase on the old wooden floor. She finally succeeded in standing all the way up, and leaned against the wall next to Naru.
"Why did you stand?" he inquired, eyeing her thigh. It was throbbing harder now, but the fragile scabs hadn't torn, and there wasn't any new bleeding. Mai turned her head to look at him. "I wanted to see better. There's more light at this level, and if we're going to be stuck here, I might as well look around," she replied, scanning the room. Naru had already moved the floor that had collapsed under them to the side. The empty space in the middle of the room was about two meters by three meters, surrounded by cabinets, chairs, and a pile of silk and brocade cushions almost as tall as Mai. The table cloths were dusty, but they looked like there were mostly worn cotton prints, so they wouldn't make horrible coverings. A broom leaned against one corner; Mai would probably end up using it on the splinter-covered ground. The liters of water Naru had mentioned were in large plastic bottles, and the soap next to them indicated that they were probably for cleaning minor spills on the cushions.
Mai looked around, noting the soft morning light. Normally, she would be asleep at such an early hour, but unless she wanted to try to make a bed now, throbbing thigh and all, she was stuck awake. She limped slowly over to one of the chairs, collapsing into it as soon as she reached it. Naru glanced at her wordlessly, walked to her, and moved another chair to sit next to her.
"I began to brush up my first aid skills after I got to know you. Anyone so accident prone needs someone taking care of her," Naru said, looking at her leg again. "If you want, I can try to clean it, but it'll hurt. Considering how many people walked on the floor, cleaning it before it shows infection is the best idea." He traced his cool fingers along the outline of the cut, sending goosebumps all over Mai's skin. She spoke to distract herself from the tingling.
"I'm definitely pro-cleaning. Just give me something to hold onto. You said we could light a fire to boil the water- where are you going to do that?" She scanned the floor again, looking for a place that wouldn't catch fire.
"There's two metal bowls in one of the cabinets. I will need a strip of your dress to use as a washcloth." Naru eyed her gown, looking for a convenient place to rip. He settled on her stomach. Mai looked down and saw a slight tear where the bodice met the skirt, and started to pull. Unfortunately, the fabric was too securely woven for her to make much difference. Naru reached for the spot just as she began getting frustrated, and neatly pulled off a long strip, baring her belly in the process. Mai blushed- her stomach was pale, and hardly muscular. She wasn't fat, but she didn't have time to do any exercise other than walking to school and work, and that didn't help her abdominal muscles. Naru merely glanced at the exposed skin and then laid the fabric on top of her chair.
Mai wrapped her arms awkwardly around her stomach as Naru walked over to a cabinet, opened it, and pulled out the bowls. He also pulled out a pack of matches, and, picking up several chunks of debris, put them in the bowl. Once he had a small fire going, he opened a water container and poured some into the smaller bowl, holding it over the flames. Mai saw him grab two folded tablecloths to shield his hands from the hot metal, and then he turned around, reached over her head for the fabric, and dropped it into the water. After a moment, he removed the bowl from the flames, placing it over one of the makeshift-mitts on top of the cabinet. He eyed the soap for a moment before deciding against using it. The silk was steaming hot by now, and he pulled it out of the bowl and walked over to Mai.
"This is hot, but at least it's clean. Hold onto my shoulder if you need to hold onto something," he told her. She complied, covering her stomach with an arm and holding onto him with the other hand. He was right, of course- the fabric was extremely hot, and she hissed in pain when it touched her tender skin. Water streamed away as he applied pressure, creating hot trails toward her knee and inner thigh. The cut burned especially, and she squeezed his shoulder when he pressed down slightly too hard.
"Sorry. I'm almost done, just a minute longer," he murmured. He rubbed circles over the wound with the cloth, not stopping until he was satisfied with his handiwork. She squeezed a little harder; then jumped when his hand covered hers.
"I'm done. We should probably cover it, but not with this." He brandished the soiled strip. "Can you afford to lose any more covering?" Blushing furiously, Mai looked down and nodded, gesturing at the fabric over her ribs. He ripped another strip off, baring everything from the bottom of her bra to the top of her panties. Mai shivered a little from the cool air against her warm skin. He went through the boiling process again, using soap this time, rinsed the strip off thoroughly, and dangled it in the air until it cooled.
"I need to wrap your leg. Can you move your skirt out of the way?" He asked. She lifted the skirt until it was a few inches above the cut, and then looked at him wordlessly. He grabbed the underside of her thigh, startling her, and lifted her leg onto his lap as he sat down beside her. Naru wrapped the strip of fabric around the cut form top to bottom twice, and knotted the fabric on the outside of her leg. She made to move her leg off of his lap, but he placed a hand just above the wrap, stopping her.
"If you move it now, the wrap might slip down, and that'd re-open the wound. Leave it up until it dries." He commanded, looking at her. Mai turned bright red, but nodded. She had her skirt practically up to her waist, a completely exposed stomach, and her boss' hand about two inches away from the junction between her thighs. Admittedly, she had idly daydreamed about things like this happening, but she never meant for them to happen. Looking at her navel, she settled in for a long wait.